There are numerous problems incident to the protection of a patient being treated under emergency circumstances or by surgical procedure. Most notable of these factors include maintenance of the patient's vital signs and, often, controlling of bleeding. Both of these factors bear upon the ability of the medical personnel to maintain the patient's life.
Other less thought of considerations are also involved, however. One significant factor of this type is the maintenance of a sterile atmosphere in which the patient is treated in order to minimize the chances of infection occurring. Not only does infection have a bearing upon the long-term health and well-being of the patient, but it can cause the very loss of life.
For this reason, therefore, the cleanliness and sterility of hospital emergency rooms are sought to be maximized. This is also true with regard to hospital operating rooms. A "sterile field" is maintained in the immediate area where a surgical procedure is being performed, and intense efforts are made to maintain total sterility within the field.
All implements brought into the field are previously sterilized, and sponges, swabs, bandages, and other dressings are maintained in a sterile condition prior to, and during, the performance of the procedure. Wound dressings are packaged and maintained in a sterile state through the time that they are applied to a patient.
Conditions which are, as much as possible, sterile are sought to be achieved in other environments also. As previously discussed, emergency rooms are a location where sterility is important. Anywhere an adhesive applied applique is brought into contact with a puncture or wound in a patient's skin, sterility is of concern in order to minimize the chances of infection. Another such instance is the application of an IV cover. Typically, such an adhesive applied cover is brought into contact with, for example, the dorsal side of a patient's hand in order to maintain and cover the entry point of the IV needle. More commonly, the cover is placed directly over the point at which the needle enters the skin overlying the vein entered. In other applications, however, the cover can be employed to reduce tension in the IV feed tube. In this application, the adhesive applied dressing might be spaced at some distance from the actual point of entry of the needle. In any case, however, sterility is a concern.
Another consideration that must be taken into account during setting up of IV's, emergency treatment, performance of surgical procedures, etc. is the ease of application and securing of medical dressings and IV covers. The functions with which the medical personnel are tasked sometimes make it difficult to manipulate dressings and IV covers. The easier manipulation is made, the smoother the task can be accomplished.
Another desirable feature of a medical dressing or IV cover, above and beyond those dictated by the factors discussed above, is compactness in packaging. This factor bears upon the size of the storage area which must be made available, and the accessibility of the package when performing a task requiring a dressing or IV cover.
It is to these problems and dictates of the prior art that the present invention is directed. It is an improved medical dressing device, a method of applying the device, and a method of packaging a sterile medical dressing. Because of the nature of the invention, various problems of the prior art are solved.